Clinching device



, J. BRENZINGER Aug. 19 1924' CLINCHI DEVICE 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed y 7 1922 z7illt'lafB i ATTORNEY Aug. 19, 1924. 1,505,535

J. BRENZINGER CLINCHING DEVICE Filed May 27,, 1922 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 10 o 11, 2W 3.

18 IN VEN TOR Jiliq$ Er ergz'nyer 4 BY .574 56 W A TTORNEY Aug. 19 .1924.

J. BRENZINGER qLINcH'ING DEVICE 5'She'ets-Sheet 4 Filed May 27, 1922 INyENTOR fulz'as Bren injer A TTORNEY Patented Aug. 19, 1924.

UNITED STATES;

YORK.

ts casss PATE T oFFice.

JULIUS nannzrnenn, or reinstate, oonnno'rronrr, ASSIGNOR TO THE MAX Ants MACHINE ooMrANY, or BEIDGEPORT,

CONNECTICUT, A CORPORATION OF NEW CLINCHING DEVICE.

Application filed May 27,

T aZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JULIUS BRENZINGER, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Fairfield, in the county of Fairlield and State of Connecticut, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Clinching Devices, of which the following is a specification.

This invention has for its main object and feature a device for partially clinching covers to irregular-shaped containers such as the well-known oblong sardine box, before seaming takes place;.although it will be understood that certain of the parts of the invention are applicable to seaming devices for effecting the final and complete union between containers and covers.

The containers, as they come from the filling machine, have the covers loosely placed upon them and the contents of the can will therefore frequently force the cover up so as to render it difficult if not impossible to effect the final seaming operation. It is not convenient to provide means in the seamer head itself for effecting the preliminary and partial clinching of the can and cover and I have therefore found it desirable to employ a clincher head located in advance of the seamer head.

111 the accompanying drawings the invention is disclosed in a concrete form in which:

Fig. 1 is a front elevation of a clincher device embodying the invention with parts. broken away and in section to more clearly illustrate the construction.

Fig. 2 is a vertical sectional View on the line 22 of Fig. 1, and shows practically a side elevation of the clincher.

Fig. 3 is an enlarged vertical sectional view on the line 33 of Fig. 1 of the upper part of the structure.

Fig. l is an enlarged vertical sectional view on the line 4:4: of Fig. 1 of the lower part.

Fig. 5 is a horizontal sectional view on the line 55 of Fig. 3.

Fig. 6 is a horizontal sectional view on the line 6-6 of Fig. 3. V i

Fig. 7 is a face view of the knock-out cam and lever and is a section on line 77fof Fig. 1. i

Fig. 8 is a face view of the roll feed or the seaming tool carrier actuating cam and lever and is a section on line. 8-8 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 9 is a face view of the base plate cam 1922. Serial No 564,243.

and lever and is a section on line 99 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 10 is a diagrammaticlayout of the timing of the three cams with relation to each other. 7

In the drawings 1 indicates conveyor chains, for feeding containers and covers,-

heading machine. Preferably they process ing takes place between the clinching and the seaming operations. The parts are so arranged that a container and cover stops in alinement with a vertically movable base plate 2., said base plate forming a lower pressure member orsupporting means, and

lifts thecontainer and cover-against an upper pressure member or-head 3, the clinching operation taking place while the parts are in this position.

Head 3 is carried by a stationary sleeve 4 suitably supported on the framework 5 as by means of collar 6. Extending through sleeve l is an ejecting member or knock-out rod 7 having knock-out head 8 at its lower end. This knockout rod has a reciprocating movement within the sleeve and any suit-. able means for mounting and actuating said rod may beemployed, said means in the pres ent instance taking the following formz9 and 10 indicate fixed collars and 11 is a slidable collar, on rod 7 there being a spring 12 interposed between collars 9 and 11. Can ried by slidable collar 11 are links 13 to which is connected the bifurcated end 1 1 of a lever 15 pivotally supported at 16 on the framework and receiving its motion from cam 17 (Fig. 7) by means of cam lever 18 and connection 19. Rod 7 also carries a fixed I on rotatable member 22. At one end of each toolcarrier 1s a seaming or clinchingroll 26 and at its other end a cam surface 27 Slidably mounted on member 22 is a cone 28,

- and this cone is actuated in any suitable manj tion 31, rocking lever 32,

ner to cause inward movement of the tool carriers. Centrifugal force causes outward movement of the carriers. As here shown motion is obtained from cam' 29 (Fig. 8) by means of cam lever 30, connecpivoted at 33, having bifurcated end 34: engaging ring 34? seated in groove 35 of rotating cone 28.

Base plate 2 may be raised and lowered by any suitable means such as those to be presently described. 36 indicates a stem slidably mounted in framework 5 and carrying at its upper end a supporting member 3'? which is kept from turning by meansof pin 38 extending into the framework. The

lower end of stem 36. is threaded and slid ingly mounted on the threaded portion of the stem is a yoke 39 carrying a cup-shape collar 40. A flanged nut 41 and a lock nut 42 are in threaded. engagement with the stem and a spring 43 is interposed between surface H of yoke 39-and flange of nut L1.

' Cam lever 45 9) actuated by cam L6 is connected to yoke 39. It will now be understood'that when the outer end of cam lever 45 is raised yoke 39 rises and, when spring 43 has been sufficiently compressed, stem 36 will likewise rise. When outer end of lever 45 lowers, stem'36 will descend and yoke 39 will continue to descend until flange i7 of cup-shape collar engages flange of nut 41. By adjusting nuts 41 and 42 the difference in height between different cams can be compensated for.

Motion may be imparted to the mechanism in any suitable way. In Fig. 1 the machine is shown as being driven from a seaming machine, one gear of which is indicated at 18. Rotating with this gear is a pulley i9 connected by means of belt with pulley 51, which latter is mounted on the shaft as gear 52 meshing with gear 23 car ried by rotating member 22. A second pulley drive is shown as coming from shaft 53 to pulley 54 on shaft 55. Shaft 55 can rise a bevel gear 56 meshing with a bevel gear 57 which latter is mounted on cam shaft 58 carrying cams 17, 29 and t6.

In Fig. 10 is shown a diagrammatic development View of the three cams and cam rollers. The rollers shown in full lines at the left indicate a neutral'position as when a cam is moving into position on the base plate. The rollers shown in dotted lines indicate that position of the mechanism which is shown in the drawings; that is, the base plate is in its uppermost position and the clinching operation is taking place.

The operation of the machine may be most easily traced by means of the diagram. At the zero point the conveyor chain has moved a container and cover into position on the base plate and at that moment knock-out cam 17 begins to lower rod 7 until head 8 presses the cover into contact with the container. ,At forty-five degrees the knock-out rod is still descending thereby compressing spring 12 because at that point the base plate begins to rise under influence of cam 46, and as said base plate continues to rise knock-out rod also rises, the container and cover being thereby firmly clamped. At ninety degrees, cam 29 begins to move cone 28 and the clinching rollers begin shortly thereafter to move inwardly and, at about the same time, the base plate and knock-out rod cease their movement. The clinching rollers move inwardly only a suflicient distance to clinch the exposed corners of the container and cover, as shown in Fig. 6. At some point between two-hundred and twenty-five and two-hundred and seventy degrees the clinching operation is completed and the base plate and knock-out rod descend, keeping the container firmly in position on the base plate. The knockout rod, however, does not descend as far as it did on its first movement because clearance sufficient to allow the container and cover to move out of the zone of operation of the parts must be provided. The container and cover now reaches the conveyer chain and the latter is now given a movement to move the container and cover out of the field of operation of the parts and to move another container and cover into position to be acted upon.

It will be noted from Fig. 6 that head 3 is of a diameter greater than the smaller di mension of the container and of a diameter smaller than the larger dimension of the container. This is important because the long: side edges of the container and cover are more easily buckled than are the short sides thereof. Consequentlyby having head 3 extend over the edges on the long sides of the container this objection-able buckling is avoided. Fig. 6 will also show that it would not be possible to carry on the clinching operation in the seamer head because head 3 would prevent seaming tools from en gaging with the long sides of the container and cover. Aside from this, however, it will be understood that it is desirable to carry on the clinching operation beforethe seaming machine, is reached; for instance it may be desired to process the container and its contents af er clinching and before seaming, in which event the preliminary clinching serves to retain the cover in its proper position and prevents the contents of the containerfrom displacing it.

Preferably, the covers of the containers have a slight initial deformation .1 at the corners where the subsequent clinching takes place, and a cover so constructed is the subject matter of a separate application filed September 22 1923 Serial No. 664,142. This construction has an advantage over previous constructions in which the long side of the cover possessed an initial deformation because such deformation of the long side of the cover interfered with the subsequentseaming operation by reason of a rather abrupt change in the contour of the cover. Furthermore the present construction facilitates separation of the covers from each other when stacked. (llinchingthe containers and the covers at the corners also prevents absolutely the separation of con tainer and cover, a result not possible by clinching the long side of the container and cover because under the latter circumstances the cover virtually forms a guide that canbe slid off endwise of the container.

I claim:

1. A device for partially clinching covers sure elements, a clinching tool mounted on the supporting element, means. for effecting a relative rotary movement of said pressure elements and said supporting element with respect to each other, and means for effecting an in and out movement, of the clinching tool, of such amplitude as to bring said tool, on its inward movement, into the plane of the greatest dimension only of the container and cover.

2. A device for partially clinching covers to irregular-shaped containers comprising: lower and upper pressure elements between which the container and cover are held, said upper pressure element of a diameter greater than the smaller'dimension of the container and smaller than its greater dimensions, a clinching tool, and means for effecting a relative rotary movement of said pressure elements and said clinching tool with respect to each other.

3. A device for partially clinching covers to irregular-shaped containers comprising: lower and upper pressure elements between which the container and cover are held, said upper pressure element of a diameter greater than the smaller dimension of the container and smaller than its greater dimension, a clinching tool, and means for effecting a relative rotary movement of said pressure elements and said clinching tool with respect to each other and means for effecting an in and out movement, of the clinching tool, of such amplitude as to bring said tool, on its inward movement, into the plane of the greatest dimension only of the container and cover.

4. A device for securing covers to containers comprising: lower and upper pressure elements between which the container and cover are held, including: a vertically movable base plate,.an upper head and a vertically movable member within said head,

a rotatable member above the head, a tool carrier movably supported on the rotatable head, actuating means for raising the base plate and for moving the tool carrier once to every cycle of the machine, and actuating means for reciprocating the vertically movable member twice to each cycle of the machine .to first hold the container and cover as the base plate rises and to then eject the containerandcover as the base plate lowers.

5. A device for partially clinching covers to irregular-shaped containers comprising: conveying means for intermittently advancing a container and cover, upper and lower pressure elements, acting between intermittent movements of the conveying means, for taking said container and cover from, and for thereafter restoring them to, the conveying means, a clinching tool, means for effecting a relative rotary movement of said pressure elements and said clinching tool with respect to each other while the container and cover are held by the pressure elements, and means for effecting an in and out movement, of the clinching tool, of such amplitude as to bring said tool, on its inward movement, into the plane of the greatest dimension only of the container and cover while they are held by the pressure elements.

6. A device for partially clinching covers to irregulanshaped containers comprising: conveying means for intermittently advancing a container and cover, upper and lower pressure elements, acting between intermittent movements of the conveying means, for taking said container and cover from, and for thereafter restoring them to, the conveying means, said upper pressure ele ment of a diameter greater than the smaller dimension of the container and smaller than its greater dimension, a clinching tool, and means for efiecting, while the container and cover areheld by the pressure elements, a relative rotary movement of said pressure elements and said clinching tool with respect to each other.

7. A device for partially clinching covers to irregular-shaped containers comprising: conveying means for intermittently advancing a container and cover, upper and lower pressure elements, acting between intermittent movements of the conveying means, for taking said container and cover from, and for thereafter restoring them to, the conveying means, said upper pressure element of a diameter greater than the smaller dimension of the container and smaller than its greater dimension, a clinching tool, and means for effecting, while the container and cover are held by the pressure elements, a relative rotary movement of said pressure elements and said'clinching tool with respect to each other, and means for effecting an in and out movement of the clinching tool, of such amplitude as to bring said tool, in its 'mWard movement, into. theiplane of the greatest dimension only of the container and cover.

8. Ade vice for partially clinching covers to irregular-shaped containers comprising: conveying means for intermittently advancing a container and cover, supporting means acting between intermittent movements, of

the conveying means, for taking said container and cover from the conveying means and for thereafter restoring them to the conveying means, and clinching means for clinching the cover and container, to, each other at the corners thereof only While they are held by the supporting means.

9. A device for partially clinching covers to irregular-shaped containers comprising: conveying means for intermittently advancing a container and'cover, supporting means acting between intermittent movements ofthe conveying means, for taking said container and cover from the conveying means and for thereafter restoring them to, the conveying means, and rotating clinching means for clinching the cover and container to. each other at the corners thereof only While they are held by the supporting means.

Signed at Bridgeport in the county of Fairfield and State of Connecticut this 19 day of May 1922.

JULIUS BRENZINGER. 

